Washington, July 22: US officials in Washington are a baffled lot these days ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s first America visit, as it is not yet clear as to how many journalists would be accompanying the premier.

Though the prime minister has urged the Pakistan embassy in Washington to ‘observe’ austerity during his visit and arrange cheaper hotels and cars for his entourage, the overhead costs like providing free international phone lines for the journalists cannot be done away with, reported the Dawn.

Washington, July 22 : A leading Pakistani economic expert has said that his country’s economy was today facing a serious risk of a full-fledged balance of payments crisis and domestic and external fiscal imbalances that had reached ‘alarming proportions’ and show no signs of self-correction or correction through policy action.

Dr Meekal Aziz Ahmed, who served senior advisor to the IMF Executive Director dealing with South Asia and as senior economist with the Pakistan Planning Commission, has written in a review that inflation had accelerated to levels “never seen before” in the country’s history and it was set to rise further, devastating the fixed income groups and the poor.

Islamabad, July 22 : The ruling federal coalition in Pakistan has worked out a strategy to combat militancy and terrorism in tribal areas, said PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Talking to a delegation of PPP MNAs from NWFP at the Zardari House last evening, he said that the crisis in FATA was “political, and not military”.

He asked the legislators to visit their constituencies and explain the government’s anti-terror strategy to party workers.

Peshawar, July 22: As the 5-day ultimatum of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud to the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government to either resign or face consequences expired yesterday, NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar has said that the government would not surrender before the Taliban and was fully prepared to face the militants.

Karachi, July 22: Caretaker of the Hindu Cremation Ground in Karachi, Ram Nath has reportedly warned Sindhi Hindus through a public notice to claim the 128 earthen pots of the ashes of their loved ones before July 30, else he will immerse them according to the Hindu rituals and will not be legally responsible for them after this deadline.

The notice also pointed out that the ashes of many people had been lying at the cremation ground’s library for several years and with the passage of time even the nametags had eroded.

Washington, July 22 : A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe has reportedly found that a Pakistani embassy official who was earlier posted as the Consul General of Pakistan in Houston and Texas and issued a Pakistani passport to an Indian terrorism suspect in exchange for money, was promoted to the post of ambassador and is presently posted in Vietname.

The official has been identified as GR Baloch

Under Baloch’s charge (as Consul General), numerous Pakistani passports were issued to non-Pakistani citizens in exchange for money, reported the Daily Times while quoting the findings of the probe.

There was actually a “rate card” listing fees for services required to be rendered.